There are any number of popular games which employ a stringed racket or similar batting instruments for use in propelling a ball or birdie or the like. In each case, the racket is used to change the direction of the projectile and must absorb the momentum possessed by the projectile in flight. The force associated with striking the projectile temporarily elongates the racket strings causing them to slide over corners such that the strings eventually wear and fail. This is due to the fact that the stringholes in the yoke or throat of the racket are commonly produced by a punching or drilling process leaving sharp inner corners inaccessible to finishing procedures.
A solution of the problem has heretofore been unavailable as reference to the prior art will disclose. An attempt to minimize the effects of the corners is shown by Vaughn et al in their U.S. Pat. No. 3,702,701 Vaughn et al approaches the problem by placing raised portions or fillets or curved support surfaces on the throat adjacent the point where each string enters the throat as the string is directed to the racket frame. The possible disadvantage of this approach is that the curved support surface of necessity can only employ small radii because a structure with a larger radius would be esthetically lacking which is a drawback in such a market.